Raking and mulching means for rotary mowers

ABSTRACT

A raking and mulching means to be combined with the rotating member of a rotary mower so as to permit raking and mulching of leaves and other matter while also cutting the grass. If desired, this means can be substituted for all of the cutting blades when merely mulching or pulverizing. (Mulching is to be interpreted as being the reducing of leaves grass and such matter to small particles).

United States Patent Henriksen 51 May 16,1972

[54] RAKING AND MULCHING MEANS FOR ROTARY MOWERS [72] Inventor: HaroldC. Henriksen, 1133 Oregon St.,

Racine, Wis. 53405 [22] Filed: Dec. 15, 1970 [2]] App], No.: 98,424

[52] U.S. Cl ..56/295 [51] Int. Cl. ..A0ld 55/18 [58] Field of Search..56/295 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,891,369 6/1959Rietz ..56/295 X 3,103,093 9/1963 House, Jr ..56/295 2,071,872 2/1937Cockburn 2,836,021 5/1958 Wood et a]. ..56/295 Primary Examiner-Louis G.Mancene Assistant Examiner-J. N. Eskovitz Attorney-Axel H. Johnson [57]ABSTRACT A raking and mulching means to be combined with the rotatingmember of a rotary mower so as to permit raking and mulching of leavesand other matter while also cutting the grass. If desired, this meanscan be substituted for all of the cutting blades when merely mulching orpulverizing. (Mulching is to be interpreted as being the reducing ofleaves grass and such matter to small particles).

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures RAKING AND MULCHING MEANS FOR ROTARY MOWERSBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This inventionconcerns a mulching means that can be combined with cutting means on arotary mower in order to mulch or pulverize matter such as leaves andtwigs, and to distribute such matter upon the grass area.

2. Description of the Prior Art The known prior art comprises thefollowing patents:

Beaszley Re. 18,944

Poynter 2,245,821 Brown 2,957,295 Ericksen 2,983,057 Russell et al.3,157,0l

SUMMARY This invention provides a means of mulching and pulverizingclippings and leaves into small particles that can be distributed on thelawn and which will settle toward the roots of the grass. An object,therefore, of this invention is to provide a mulching means that canreplace some or all of the cutting blades of a rotary mower.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparentfrom a consideration of the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing wherein an embodiment of theinvention is shown. It is, however, to be understood that the inventionis not limited to the details disclosed, but includes all suchvariations as fall within the spirit of the invention.

Referring to the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a typical rotary mower with parts broken awayand embracing this invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlargement of a portion of FIG. 1, showing the mulchingblade of this invention.

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a section taken at 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the mulching or pulverizing blade assembled ona mower blade of another design.

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of the assembly of FIG. 5.

The conventional rotary mower of FIG. 1 comprises the housing 10provided with transport wheels 12. An outlet 14 permits grass andmulched material to be distributed over the rass. g A rotating member,or disk 16 is supported in housing 10 on a shaft 18, which is joumalledfor rotation in the direction of arrow 19, by a suitable power means,not shown, and in a plane of rotation normal to the axis of rotation.Member 16 has portions such as 20 directed at an angle relative to theplane of rotation of the member 16, and which portions function as a fanto provide the lift to raisethe grass and other material to be mulched,into engagement with the cutting blades 22 and the mulching blades 24.Cutting blades 22 in this instance are of the customary type, and arebolted to the portions 20 by bolts 26.

Mulching blades 24 are preferable of steel and comprise anoutwardly-directed portion 28 which terminates in a downwardly-extendingmulching finger portion 30. A support plate 32 provides the support forblade 24 and is secured to the portion 20 at the underside thereof by abolt 26 having the usual lock washer 29 and a nut 31. Blade 24 ispivotally mounted, in this instance, on the underside of plate 32 by apivot bolt 34 which has an enlarged portion 36 to pennit blade 24 topivot freely in the event that it strikes an obstruction.

Lock washer 38 and nut 40 secure bolt 34 in place. Inasmuch as plate321s secured to the portion 20 the plate will also add to the lift"supplied by the portions 20, which lift is directed upwardly as shown bythe arrow 40 of FIG. 3. Thus the rotation of the disk 16 will tend tolift leaves and grass clippings into engagement with the blades 22 and24, and so reduce such material to a fineness that permits it to settletoward the roots of the grass to provide the mulch.

It is also within the purview of this invention to provide mulchingblades such as 42 to be mounted on each end of a mower blade such as 44,a portion of which is shown in FIG. 5 and 6; only one mulching blade 42being shown. Blades 42 have downwardly extending mulching portions 46that engage the material being mulched or pulverized. Inasmuch as arms44 are made in various lengths to suit different mowers, blades 42 areprovided with a series of holes 48 to permit mounting of the blades onthe various blades 44. The bolt assembly 50 is similar to that employedwith blades 24 and indicated as 34.

The above being a complete description of an illustrative embodiment ofthe invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured byLetters Patent of the United States is:

l. A combined mowing and mulching means for a rotary mower to mulchleaves and other matter While mowing grass, said mower having adownwardly-open housing and a rotating member in said housing, saidrotating member having a plurality of alternate cutting means andmulching means attached thereto, said mulching means being discrete andperipherallypositioned from said cutting means and comprising a bladepivoted to said rotating member, said blade terminating in adownwardly-directed finger portion.

2. A mulching means as set forth in claim 1, in which a discrete supportplate is secured integrally to said rotating member, and said mulchingmeans is pivoted to said support plate.

3. A mulching means as set forth in claim 2, in which said support plateis positioned in a plane angularly disposed to the plane of rotation ofsaid rotating member.

4. A mulching means as set forth in claim 1, in which saiddownwardly-directed finger portion is of a rectangular cross section.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent NO. Dated yl Harold C. Henriicsen It is certified that error appears in theabove-identified patent and that said Letters Patentare hereby correctedas shown below:

on the cover sheet [72] should read Inventor: Harold C. Henriksen, 23 10Thor Avenue,

Racine, Wis. 53405 Signed and sealed this 7th day of November 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissionerof Patents FORM PC4050 (10'69) uscoMM-oc (mane-P69 fi U 5 GOVERNMENTPRINTING bFFICE I959 O3$6-334,

1. A combined mowing and mulching means for a rotary mower to mulchleaves and other matter while mowing grass, said mower having adownwardly-open housing and a rotating member in said housing, saidrotating member having a plurality of alternate cutting means andmulching means attached thereto, said mulching means being discrete andperipherally-positioned from said cutting means and comprising a bladepivoted to said rotating member, said blade terminating in adownwardly-directed finger portion.
 2. A mulching means as set forth inclaim 1, in which a discrete support plate is secured integrally to saidrotating member, and said mulching means is pivoted to said supportplate.
 3. A mulching means as set forth in claim 2, in which saidsupport plate is positioned in a plane angularly disposed to the planeof rotation of said rotating member.
 4. A mulching means as set forth inclaim 1, in which said downwardly-directed finger portion is of arectangular cross section.